Craftmine

“Alright, I’m officially bored now.”

Teekay and Relkir watched as Tahnahos paced up and down, trying to work out what to do with himself. Between the six of them, they had exhausted pretty much everything to do. They’d played the three video games they had to death, they’d gotten annoyed at the one single board game available and there was nothing to watch at all. Despite Phovos’s attempts, they hadn’t managed to get any signals from any television stations. Not even obscure Vohran news networks.

“Officially bored?” Tahvra asked, fiddling around with the remote control for the television. He had taken it apart and put it back together several times. The first three times had been fine, but now he couldn’t find the rubber # key. It wasn’t exactly needed, but this bothered Tahvra greatly.

“Yes, officially. We’ve done everything that this tiny little hub has to offer, and now I am sorely tempted to make a massive hole in the wall outside, break into the universe, find a pub, get laid then drink myself into a coma.”

“You’re really that bored?” Phovos tutted. The Raptor liked to think that she’d done a good job keeping herself occupied. That being said, she had eaten quite a few sandwiches. Turned out, whenever Phovos got bored, she got hungry as well.

“I am!” Tahnahos snapped. “There is literally nothing to do! Not even anything to protect. We’re just sitting on our asses, doing nothing!”

“We’re taking a break.”

“We’re doing nothing. I don’t like doing nothing! We are literally sitting on our butts!”

“Calm down, Tahnahos…” Teekay was in agreement with Phovos. “Sure, we’re just sitting around, but we’ve done tons of this already. This is kinda all we’ve been doing in service of Kinisis. What’s so different about now? Aside from the fact that our team was split in two?”

Tahnahos sat down in annoyance, but not before grabbing himself another drink. Being a Kronospast, he never got over the fact that he constantly needed to drink sugary substances. And, like Phovos, in his boredom, he had consumed more than usual.

“I don’t know. This just feels different.”

“How?”

“I don’t… know…” Tahnahos sighed some more. “It’s like, we’re completely stuck this time. Nowhere to go. Abandoned. She doesn’t want us any more, and we’re stuck here forever.”

“To be fair…” Akah added. “Kinisis has somewhat forgotten us. She has left us here and not given us any further instruc-” Akah paused, looking at Tahvra, who had put the television controller down and was now crawling on the ground, underneath the coffee table. Something had caught the little Vohra’s eye. “What are you looking at?”

Tahvra’s eyes lit up as he found a large box, that was clearly rather heavy. He opened it up without hesitation, tipping its contents out on the coffee table.

“Oooh.”

“What the…” Teekay blinked. “What is all that?”

“Small games consoles!” Tahvra exclaimed, sifting through the pile. There were six consoles, enough for each of the guardians, and all colour-coded, matching each individual based on their skin and armour colours. “But… there is only one game here… Craftmine? Have any of you heard of it?”

Tahnahos helped himself to one of the consoles, turned it on and inserted the game. The first thing he tested was the big multiplayer button. Unfortunately, the server list was empty, aside from one single slot. A server with enough space for six players.

“I think this was intended for us…” Tahnahos muttered.

“No, really?” Phovos replied sarcastically. “Let’s give it a go then. Might be fun…”